Chapter One-Birthday

AN: This is part one of four, and has as much canon as possible given how little we know of him (In the earlier parts, some later parts, three and four will have some AU in there). Most of the ideas for this story came from my own theories and some I read on a great website.

This story will be broken up into four parts. This first part will end when he becomes a Death Eater. Part two will pick up from there. Part two will be far different from part one and will be rated "M". Part three will cover his years teaching at Hogwarts prior to Harry's arrival and part four will cover his years protecting Harry.

This story is also tremendously different from the first story I wrote, which was a light hearted comedy. I've not written drama in a while, so please bear with me!

AN: Update: 03/04/2011, I have a Facebook Fan page now for this series. Just search for Severus Snape Revealed on FB and "Like" it for updates and polls and such.

Disclaimer-This universe and most of these characters belong to JK Rowling, I'm just borrowing…

Tobias Severus Snape was born at three-twenty-two in the morning on January the ninth, 1960. It was an icy and snowy morning in which the winds howled and roared just as much as Eileen Snape had bringing young Tobias into the world. Her husband, also named Tobias, thought it was odd that Eileen insisted on giving birth at home instead of the hospital. What woman would not want to give birth in a hospital? Why is there a weird woman in a cloak of all things here helping her give birth at home? Eileen had told her husband that it was a tradition in her family that the children were born at home. As for the 'weird woman', she was an old friend of the family and a perfectly capable midwife. The fact that she wore what Tobias thought of as an odd looking cloak didn't matter what so ever when he heard the cries of his first born child erupt from the bedroom. He had been sitting downstairs downing ale after ale all night, deeply concerned for his wife and their new child. Once he heard the cries he ran up the stairs and knocked on the door.

The midwife asked him to remain outside the door for a moment so she could clean up, and that his wife and child were fine. But he did not want to wait; he was an impatient man after all. He'd be the first to admit that he was not at all pleased when the woman, who he had barely known, first told him that she was with child. He had been in utter and complete shock. He was not even certain the child was his, but she convinced him that he was the only man she'd been with. She had been a barmaid at the pub he frequented and in the end, not very pretty, nor was she very talkative. But she had been good at getting the drinks out fast and was a good listener.

After a few ales, her sullen face and heavy brow didn't look so bad to Tobias. He himself was no Valentino after all, and finding a woman was never his strong suit. In fact, he'd barely found any woman to be with him that didn't charge money. He was very poor, too poor for such things, and not attractive in the least. He was as working class as they came and poorly educated because he had been orphaned at a young age. So, one night the 'old pub hag' suddenly didn't look so haggish, and he'd actually gotten the normally quiet woman to speak. Her accent was not the same as his and she sounded educated. She had told him she liked to keep to herself and enjoyed reading and…playing marbles. Marbles? 'What kind of barmaid enjoys playing marbles?' he had thought to himself. Needless to say one thing led to another and a few months later she asked him to step outside before serving his ale one night. She had then told him of the pregnancy. He had been angry. Very angry. How could this happen? He hardly knew this woman. At first he told her she was on her own. Then he remembered his parents dying when he was young and having no family and it didn't seem right to abandon his child. So he did what a decent man would do, he married her.

She was still secretive and quiet even after the marriage. She had little family left and only one friend, but that friend didn't come to the wedding because there hadn't been much of a wedding, just a civil ceremony. She quit her job and they moved into a very tiny row house on Spinner's End. He'd used all the money he had so that his child would live in a house that was theirs, but the house was certainly not much. The best thing about it was that it was the end house and at the end of the street as well. It had been built in the Victorian era as workers' housing.

There was a tiny living room with one window and it faced the street. There was a narrow stair case off to the right, just behind the front door. Beyond the living room there was also a small kitchen; in the kitchen there was a window facing the ally out back, which had in it another row of houses. There was a back door which led to the outdoor toilet and communal wash room. There was no room for a proper garden, not that Tobias cared much for gardens.

Upstairs there was a tiny bedroom facing the back and a slightly larger bedroom facing the front. It was not much indeed but nicer than anything Tobias had ever lived in.

He didn't know how Eileen grew up; the one thing she did mention was having been educated at a private school in Scotland. She had said her family did not have a lot of money but had enough for her schooling. Private education translated to rich in the eyes of Tobias, or at least middle class. When he asked her why she became a barmaid with all her education, she simply said that she'd fallen on hard times and had to take whatever job she could.

In truth, her father Severus was an immigrant wizard from Romania who married her mother and died when Eileen was only ten. Her mother Elizabeth Filch raised her and worked hard for the funds to send her to Hogwarts, where Elizabeth had attended school as a member of the Slytherin house. Eileen was sorted into Ravenclaw as it had turned out and had an uneventful stay at Hogwarts. She did become Captain of the schools Gobstones Team and excelled at Potions. She wanted to apprentice in Potions upon leaving school, but her mother fell ill. Elizabeth died when her daughter was only nineteen and after her death, Eileen had no where else to go. Pureblood though she was, she had no money. Her family's entire savings had been drained for her education and for caring for her mother. She didn't even own a home to live in; she and her mother had rented a room in Hogsmeade for the last year of her mother's life.

Eileen did have a friend who was a Muggle-born from Hogwarts. Her friend Kathleen loved being a witch but also missed the Muggle world. She took Eileen to her first movie, her first Muggle restaurant, and her first Muggle pub. When Kathleen married a Muggle named Stanley and moved to a tiny village in the north of England called Derby, Eileen decided to take a job in the same village so she could remain close to Kathleen. The village was tiny, industrial, and run down. But with practically no family other than relatives she'd never met in Romania and a squib uncle in Scotland, it was important to her to remain close to her only friend in the world. She had kept her room in Hogsmeade and Apparated daily to Derby to take work in a local pub. And it was years later that she met and was quite taken with one Tobias Snape.

Even though he was far from handsome, there was something about the rather tall, hooked nose man that interested her. She knew he'd never accept her as anything but a Muggle, so she vowed to never tell him that she was a witch. She was delighted when he finally took notice and began to chat with her over his ale. She neglected to take any contraceptive potion and was thrilled when she found out she was pregnant. When he decided to marry her and buy a house for the three of them to live in, she thought her life had taken a turn for the better. It was easy enough to use magic to cook and clean by day when Tobias was out at work, and her only real fear was that their child would show signs of magic and she'd have to tell Tobias the truth. She secretly hoped that her child would be a squib. Her mother's brother was a squib after all, so there was hope.

So, in the early morning hours of January ninth, she looked down at the pitch black eyes of her first born son and prayed to her parents that he would be a squib. She loved her husband more than anything and never wanted to lose him. She'd always wanted a loving husband and living as a Muggle didn't upset her in the least. No man had ever given her the time of day prior to Tobias and losing him and his love would be unimaginable.

She was pleased when young Tobias had stopped crying long enough to latch on and look up at her with his large black eyes. He had a head full of black hair and a full, pudgy face. Poor Tobias did have a slight cone-head but it was easily concealed with the yellow knit cap she'd made for him the month prior. She could not wait to knit blue ones as she was proud to have given Tobias a son. Then, she asked Tobias to come into the room. The midwife had magically cleaned the room and removed the bloody towels and the afterbirth. Eileen was healed using spells and potions, and despite a heavy loss of blood, she was feeling euphoric when Tobias was finally allowed to enter the room.

"Look, you have a son!" Eileen said with a prideful smile.

Though she was still not a pretty woman, she glowed in the eyes of Tobias that night. Even with her sweaty brows and misplaced hair, she was sitting upright against the headboard with her white nightgown repositioned so she could feed their son, and looked glorious while doing it. Tobias was at first embarrassed at the site of her feeding their son. He'd never seen anyone breast feed before. He was even shocked she was breast feeding at all.

"A son?" he asked with a laugh. "Really?"

"Yes…he's perfect," Eileen said.

"He…a son. My boy," he murmured with a smile.

He sat beside her and rubbed his finger against young Tobias's soft, chubby arm. He'd never been this close to a baby. His best mate had a daughter a few months ago, but he was always too scared to hold her. He looked again at his boy; he looked so frail, so tiny. When miniature fingers quickly wrapped around Tobias's large index finger, it forced a loud and tearful laugh from the proud father. "Whoa, look at that there. Look at them tiny fingers! Ten of them right?"

"Yes Sir, like the woman said, he's perfect," the midwife said as she packed her bag.

"He's definitely a he right? A boy? I can't believe it; I can't believe I have a son!" he exclaimed nervously.

Eileen repositioned little Tobias's blanket to show his father what he wanted to see.

"Yup, that's a boy all right! Wow, I just can't believe I have a son!" Tobias said, wearing an ear to ear grin.

Eileen had never seen him happier than he was at that moment, and she could have sworn she saw a tear in his eye. She didn't have much time to examine the joy on her husband's face because within a few seconds his face was being doused with baby urine.

"The boy is pissing on me Eileen!" he cried out, wiping his face with his sleeve.

"Oh God I'm sorry!" the midwife exclaimed, walking over to offer him a clean towel.

To Eileen's shock he was not mad, he was laughing; he took the towel and wiped the urine off his face.

"Well we all know what he thinks of his dad huh?" he said, smiling.

"Let me put a nappy on him," the midwife announced, pushing Tobias aside some and grabbing the happily nursing child from his mother's breast.

Young Tobias was not pleased at this and began to cry and scream at the top of his lungs. It didn't take her but a moment to put on the nappy and pin it tightly and then she handed the crying child back to his mother and his newly found pacifier.

"He needs to feed every two hours; I'll come back tomorrow afternoon to check on you. No need to see me out, I can find my way," she said, closing the door behind her.

"So, no bottle then?" Tobias questioned.

"Oh no, we don't do that."

"We?"

"Um, my family, old Romanian thing; we breast feed, no bottles. It's just for a year and then he can have cereal," she answered with a reassuring smile.

She never even knew babies were bottle fed until Kathleen told her. She'd never trust some Muggle formula for her child, his child. He may be raised in the Muggle way, but formulas and baby powder were not part of the deal. She could brew all sorts of potions during the day when Tobias was at work to prevent diaper rash and help with colic.

It did not take long for the euphoria to wear off and after thirty-two hours of labor, Eileen was exhausted. She quickly fell asleep while a wide eyed young Tobias continued to feed wide awake. Tobias waited until it looked like young Tobias was nodding off to take him from Eileen's arms. He didn't want the baby to get smothered and thought it best if he just put him in his crib. This was the first time he'd ever held a baby. Young Tobias was very light and squirmy. Tobias may not have been used to holding babies, but young Tobias was not used to being held either. After squirming and spitting up a little breast milk, he started to dose off. Tobias cleaned up the spittle with a little cloth he found in the crib. He seemed to remember his friend saying babies needed to burp after eating. He'd seen it done once and thought he could handle it. He held little Tobias upright against his chest and patted his back. Not only did little Tobias let out a very wet sounding belch, but it sounded and felt like the bottom had dropped out his nappy too.

"Eileen. He's dirty," he said, but Eileen was not responding as she was sleeping very heavily. "Come on woman, I have to leave for work soon…Eileen," he remarked, poking her arm. She responded with a very loud snore. Tobias knew he was on his own.

"Shit. Oh yeah, shit and a lot of it boy. You've only been alive an hour, where did this come from?" he asked the sleepy eyed baby. "Well crap boy, what he hell am I supposed to do with this thing? And don't you go pissin' on dad again 'right?" he said holding up a clean nappy he'd found in a bag on the floor. "Can't be that hard, just wrap it and tuck it and…oh shit, a pin? What the hell do I do with this pin? What if I stick ya?" he wondered as deep black eyes met his brown ones. "Aw hell, Eileen, I really need ya woman," he whined, gently shaking her shoulder. This time she woke up. "If I bring him to ya can you clean his bum and put the nappy on?"

"Already?"

"Yeah, he burped and then took a shite."

"Okay love, bring him here, I'll do it," she unenthusiastically muttered.

She wanted to change his nappy, but she felt so tired and weak, she was not sure she could stand. The potions she needed were hidden in her nightstand drawer and she was not supposed to take them until six a.m.

He brought a very soiled young Tobias over and gave her the new nappy.

"Love, I could really use some tea," she said.

He leant over and kissed her forehead before heading downstairs. She got her wand out from in-between the mattress and with one quick wave, he was cleaned. She put the nappy on and used a quick cleaning spell on her hands. She tucked the wand away to its hiding space and waited for her husband to return. When he did, both she and little Tobias were asleep again. He couldn't help but notice little Tobias had his thumb tucked right in his mouth. He put down the tea, and placed the sleeping boy in his crib just inches away from their bed. Then he crawled into bed and got one hour of precious sleep before his alarm sounded .It was time to go to work.

AN: I got the idea that Snape's first name could really be Tobias from a fantastic story "De Profundis" 4080025 by zeegrindylows.